Introduction to LC Subject Headings

Introduction

This general introduction to Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is based on a trainer’s notes used in introducing copy cataloguers to the basics of LCSH.  These notes cover general principles of LCSH and general points on the valid construction of LCSH.  The process of subject analysis – figuring out the topic, topics, or genre of a work – is not covered here.  The focus is primarily on the cataloguing of non-literary works.

These introductory notes have been designed to be used in conjunction with the reading of sections of Subject Cataloging Manual:  Subject Headings -- especially:

H180 -- Assigning and constructing subject headings

H80 -- Order of subject headings

H1075 -- Subdivisions

H1095 -- Free-floating subdivisions

H1100-H1200 -- Sections covering pattern heading categories.

Additional local documents about subject headings are available through our local documentation list under “Subject headings.”

Basic approach and principles

A.            Provision of subject access.  Subject headings are access points with standardised forms of terms, names, and uniform titles that reflect the topic or genre of a work -- what a work is about or the form or type of the work.  People with interest in a particular topic, not with a specific title or author in mind, should be able to use to find records for relevant works.  Personal, corporate, and geographic name headings, as well as uniform title headings, may be used as subject headings, when a work is about the person, body, place, or other work.

B.            Subject cataloguing vs. indexing:  LC’s  subject heading system is intended to reflect major subjects -- generally those covered in 20% of the text or more (i.e., about 1/5 of the text – you don't need to count pages specifically, but you may want to scan contents).  There are some exceptions, if a named person or entity is particularly stressed.

Assigning subject headings, therefore, is not the same as detailed indexing, which may cover a topic or name that appears only once, briefly, in a work.   A set of subject headings just constitutes a concise, standardised summary of what a work is about.  One common temptation of cataloguers-in-training is to try to provide subject access that is too detailed.

C.            Principle of specificity:  As LC states -- "Assign headings that are as specific as the topics they cover."  In other words, generally don't assign broad, general headings when dealing with specific aspect of that topic.  However, a valid heading that is as specific as the topic is not always available.  Try to be as specific as you can while still covering the topic.

Groups of subtopics of overarching general topic: 

1.             If 3 or fewer subtopics of general topic are discussed:

a.             If the subtopics cumulatively represent the entire topic (i.e., there are no significant aspects of the broader topic that are not covered in the work), assign a heading for the broader topic.

E.g.         Book on vertebrate and invertebrate animals; animals are either vertebrate or invertebrate.

Assign:  Animals

not                          Vertebrates

Invertebrates

b.             If the subtopics cumulatively represent only part of the entire topic (i.e., there are significant aspects of the broader topic that are not covered in the work), assign a heading for each of the subtopics.

E.g.         Book on mice and rats, both sub-categories of rodents; there are types of rodents other than mice and rats.

Assign:  Mice

Rats

not                          Rodents

2.             If more than 3 subtopics of general topic are discussed:  assign a heading for the broader topic.  (There are occasional exceptions, if 4 subtopics of a very broad topic are discussed.)

E.g.         Book on mice, elephants, bears, and deer.

Assign:  Mammals

not          4 headings, each representing the different type of mammal.

D.            Number of subject headings:  The number of subject headings assigned varies from work to work.  Sometimes one is adequate; sometimes several are needed.  

1.             Many works deal with more than one focussed topic – a group of related topics.  Each major topic deserves a subject heading.

2.             You often need multiple subject headings to bring out multiple facets of the same topic.  For example, for a work about an economic problem in a given place:  you may end up with a heading for the type of problem (in that place if the rules allow geographic subdivision of that topical heading), and a heading for the place, subdivided by "Economic conditions." 

NB:  Subject heading strings (see below) are another way to try to bring out multiple facets or subfacets of a subject.

3.             A work may deal with a topic on more than one level, e.g., a general discussion of a concept, with case studies that illustrate the concept in a specific context; a study of a social phenomenon, including a specific examination of the history of that phenomenon in a particular place.  Headings should reflect different levels if there is at least 20% of the work devoted to each level.

E.g.                         In the same record:

Women $z Nicaragua.

Women.

6 subject headings or so are considered adequate for most books.  There should rarely be more than 10 subject headings (we have made some exceptions, usually with very specialised materials such as theses and detailed anthropological and archaeological studies of Latin American Indians).

E.             Order of subject headings :  The general principle is to assign headings in order of the importance of the subject in the work.  Thus, the first heading should reflect the most central topic of the work.  The order is not always straightforward, however, when a cluster of headings is needed to bring out one topic (cf. I.D.2 above).

Please note that the MARC tag number for the type of subject heading is not a factor in assigning the order of headings.

Forms and construction

In checking a subject heading, you naturally need to confirm that its meaning is appropriate for the content of the work.  In addition, if verification of the heading is required, you need to be sure that it is valid in its construction and application according to LCSH rules.  This section deals with valid construction.

A. Basic (main) heading

1.             Topical  (MARC tag 650):  May represent:  a concrete object, animal, etc.; a category of people, animals, or objects; a more abstract concept, belief, process, or phenomenon; an institution, etc.

A topical heading may be a term consisting of a single word or a phrase.

a.             Single word:  probably the most common form.

E.g.                         Housing

Women

Savannas

b.             Phrase:  Various methods of constructing a topical phrase heading include:

1)             Direct order

E.g.         Housing policy

Foreign exchange administration

2)             Inverted order; inverted headings include a comma.  In theory, the more significant term is given first, then followed by a modifier.  An inverted topical heading functions almost like a hierarchy, although it is not formally structured as such through MARC coding, since a phrase is used rather than a coded subdivision.

E.g.         Authors, Mexican

Farms, Small 

3)             Term plus qualifying term; the qualifier is in parentheses and should resolve ambiguities or make the context of the term clearer.

E.g.         Stress (Physiology)

Stress (Psychology

Consumption (Economics)                 [i.e., not tuberculosis, not energy or food consumption ]

4)             A topical phrase heading may include prepositions.

E.g.         Violence in motion pictures

Children of alcoholics

5)             A topical phrase heading may include related terms connected with "and." 

E.g.         Banks and banking

Cities and towns

6)             Occasionally, a phrase consists of list of terms seen as related, with 2 terms plus "etc."

E.g.         Comic books, strips, etc.

E.g.         Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc.

7)             Combination or modification of above.

E.g.         Banks and banking, Central [compound direct, plus

inverted addition]

Registers of births, etc. (Canon law)  [preposition, one phrase, plus

"etc."; followed by parenthetical qualifier]

Creative ability in science

2.             Name -- personal, corporate, or conference  (MARC tag 600, 610, or 611):  The form of a name heading used as a subject should be the same as that in the name authority file, so the form of an access point is the same whether its function in the record is to represent an author, responsible body, or subject.  Therefore, the rules for construction are covered in AACR2 revised (chapters 22 and 24) and the associated LCRI.  (This authority work will be covered later.)

3.             Uniform title  (MARC tag 630):  The form of a uniform title heading used as a subject should be the same as that in the name authority file, so the form of the access point is the same whether its function in the record is to represent the uniform title for the content of a work, for the content of part of a work, for a series, or for the subject (a work discussed in the work in hand).  Therefore, the rules for construction are covered in AACR2 revised (chapter 25) and the associated LCRI.  (This authority work will be covered later.)

4.             Geographic  (MARC tag 651):  There are two categories, with various complicating factors:

a.             Places that have or had jurisdictional status on some level:  Such places -- e.g., countries, cities, and provinces -- have governments that could issue works and thus could function as corporate authors.

E.g.         Argentina

Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Louisiana

Jefferson Parish (La.)

North Yorkshire (England)

LC might set up a jurisdiction in its name authority file or its subject authority file -- depending on the situation and, historically, who got to it first.  The form of access point should be the same whether its function in the record is to represent a responsible body or subject.  The rules for construction are covered in AACR2 revised (chapter 23) and the associated LCRI.  Additional relevant rules show up in the Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings. 

b.             Geographic features without jurisdictional status:  Such places -- e.g., individual mountains or mountain ranges, rivers, bays; regions larger than countries, including continents and groups of countries; regions within countries that do not correspond to political divisions -- could only relate to a work as subjects.  

E.g.         Alps

Olympus, Mount (Greece)

Mississippi River

Europe

West Indies

Atlantic Coast (Nicaragua)

LC sets up subject authority records for headings for geographic features.  Guidelines are provided in the Subject Cataloging Manual: Subject Headings.

For additional information about geographic headings, see “Introduction to Geographic Headings.”

B.            Subject heading strings:  Subdivisions

If a subject heading consists of a string, with a heading and one or more subdivisions, and verification is required, you need to be sure that the string is constructed correctly:

1.             Valid

a.             Valid to use that subdivision under that heading or type of heading.

E.g.         Farms, Small $z Colombia:  You need to verify that the topical heading "Farms, Small" may be subdivided geographically (with a $z subfield or pair of $z subfields for the place).

Camus, Albert, $d 1913-1960 $v Congresses:  You need to verify that the form subdivision "Congresses" may be used under names of persons.

b.             Subdivision is in the correct form. 

Please note:  The function and construction of a subdivision is not the same as that of a subject heading.  Therefore, the valid form of a subdivision will not necessarily be the same as that of a subject heading with a similar meaning.

E.g.         650  0  Economic history.

                651  0  Chile $x Economic conditions.

Subdivisions with similar meanings may also be different under different types of headings.

E.g.         650  0  Children $x Religious life.        [under classes of persons]

                651  0  Ethiopia $x Religious life and customs.                [under places]

2.             In the correct order when more than one subdivision is present.

E.g.                         650  0  Women $z Italy $x Social conditions.

but

650  0  Women $x Employment $z Italy.

(For more information about subject subdvisions, see "Some Common Library of Congress Subject Subdivision Patterns and Caveats.")

LCSH:  Some limitations and caveats

A.            The list of LC subject headings is not comprehensive:  It is based on "literary warrant" -- i.e., based on headings that have actually been used to reflect topics in works catalogued at LC or at libraries where SACO proposals for new subject headings have been submitted, then accepted at LC.  You may continually run up against the problem of not finding a heading for a major topic that the work covers.  (Our trained original cataloguers sometimes submit SACO proposals for new subjects.)

B.            The choice and form of headings are not necessarily current:  The LCSH terms have evolved over time, but they can never be totally up to date.   Although LC has made considerable efforts to keep up to date in its subject terminology, you will still find terms that sound archaic or that diverge from common terms (e.g., the subdivision "$x Antiquities").  Currently, weekly lists with updated, new, or deleted terms are issued; quarterly lists are printed in issues of the LC Cataloging Service Bulletin (CSBs) with new headings that LC thinks may be particularly timely. 

E.g.         650  0  Man                           

is now obsolete; switched (in Winter 1997) to

Human beings

E.g.         recent heading (Fall 2002):  650  0  Marine ecotourism

E.g.         recent heading (January 2007):  650  0  Asian American women in motion pictures

C.            The meaning and usage of a term in LCSH may not be what we might expect from its use in regular spoken English.  You sometimes need to consult scope notes and/or bib records to figure out what the term really means in LCSH.

E.g.         650  0  Archaeology $z Mexico --   refers to the discipline of archaeology, Mexican archaeologists,

etc.

651  0  Mexico $x Antiquities -- refers to archaeological sites, artefacts, etc.

D.            The form of a subject heading or subject string is not always easy to predict.  Plans are in the process of being implemented to update and simplify patterns of subject heading construction.  For example, more phrase headings now appear in direct rather than inverted order.

E.g.         Women, Deaf

is now obsolete; switched to:                                            650  0  Deaf women

E.g.         Societies, Primitive

is now obsolete; switched to:                                            650  0  Primitive societies

HTML document last reviewed:  7 May 2007